Art, Music, Makeup and Madness

Apart from the fact the Superdrug range of products are cruelty-free they’re also very kind to your purse. I’ve tried out most of their sachet face masks (which are really good btw and I will get around to reviewing all of them) but today I wanted to talk about one of their hand creams.

The smell is nothing special (reminds me a little of Dove soap actually) and it has a silicon-y cream texture which is on the thick side compared to most of the hand creams I have tried. If you’re looking for something luxurious and smelling like a basket of tropical fruit this is not for you. But if you just want something cheap and cheerful then this is one I think you would like.

You’ve all seen me rave about Bioderma in at least one video, not to mention the few times I’ve given a bottle away in a Giveaway, so you all know how much I love this product. I was introduced to the brand by the lovely Lisa Eldridge and have been absolutely obsessed with it ever since first trying it out well over a year ago.

Micellar Water is designed to easily remove makeup without harsh tugging and scrubbing.

It’s an absolute lifesaver for taking makeup off easily (especially eye makeup) without scrubbing them to death. So you can imagine how interested I was when I saw that Superdrug had recently launched what looked like a dupe of one of my favorite products.

For those of you who read this the first time around know that I was under the impression that Bioderma wasn’t cruelty-free, so you can imagine how suprised I was when I got an email from Bioderma explaining that I was in fact wrong, and explained that neither they or their suppliers test on animals which is why I’m re-writing this review to reflect that.

Basics:

I get the feeling that with this line Superdrug are really trying to imitate French pharmacy brands, especially with the packaging. Heck they even used the same font for their logo (or at least it looks like it) as Bioderma so it’s no wonder people are making the comparisons.

Apparently the B.Pure Micellar Water has cucumber extract in it, so I assumed that is what it would smell like. It might just be my weird nose but to me this smelled faintly of white spirit, not the best smell that’s for sure but it’s not a strong smell at all so I didn’t mind.

The smell of this one is…interesting.

One difference between the two is how it affects your eyes. Not that I delliberately go shoving Bioderma in my eyes, but on the rare case that it does go in my eyes it doesn’t sting, B. Pure does. Not a “OMG MY EYES ARE ON FIRE!” kind of sting, but it’s not exactly comfortable. Again not something I’m overly bothered about, it just means than I’m a lot more frugal with how much I apply on the cotton pad instead of dousing it with product like I normally do with Bioderma.

In tearms of how well it removed makeup, especially eye makeup, I didn’t find it as effective as Bioderma but it still does a very good job. If Bioderma was rated at five stars B.Pure would be a 4.2. So not bad at all!

Your skin feels…plump after using this?

One last different between this one and Bioderma is how it leaves your skin. Bioderma leaves my skin feeling a little on the dryish side (bearing in mind I have normal/combination skin) but B. Pure leaves my skin feeling…um..plump? You know that feeling when you applied a moisturiser and your skin just drinks it in. That feeling just lighter, like you had used a liquid moisturiser.

I think of you’re a die hard fan of Bioderma like myself you might find this product a slight step down (just a little). But if you’ve never tried any Micellar Water and you want to try a cruelty free brand they I highly suggest you give this one a shot.

Recently I finally finished all the sheet masks I’d bought during the last few months of Uni last year, so obviously the logical thing to do when that happens is so go out and get another year’s supply of face masks.

I had already tried Superdrug’s Cucumber Cooling Mask before and loved it so I took the opportunity to get all the face masks Superdrug currently offer so I could review them all on by one.

The annoying thing is when I was doing my research I realised the only one I didn’t have was the yogourt and honey version, but since I already have a DIY Face Mask for that I don’t feel like I’m missing out so much.

Basics:

99p

Cruelty-free

BVUA Approved

Make in the UK

Paraben Free

Oh my gosh this face mask smells SO good! Like raspberry yogurt with a few sweets thrown in. The texture is pretty amazing as well. Sometime exfoliating masks have granules that could have been the gizzard stones of a t-rex (or crushed glass) but this one has really fine granules that softy exfoliate your skin.

Absolutely loved this one! The smell is just amazing! The smell lingers on your skin for around 3 hours, the tiny exfoliation granules are just perfect. Not too rough to grate your skin, but just fine enough for you to really be able to scrub your face, especially those pesky ares like around the nose. Left my face feeling thoroughly cleansed and brighter and, even though it’s only meant for one application I’ve got 3 uses out of this packet.

It seemed a bit appropriate to do a Queen of Hearts look soon after St. Valentines day. I was planning on getting this one done for Valentines day but I had a red/swollen eye for the past 3 days (nobody want’s to see that up close in HD, so I had to film and edit everything today which is why this video is a little late. Sorry! :/

I will have a template for the mask soon

I will be doing a video (and have a down-loadable template here one the blog) for the mask at some point. I was thinking of including it in this video but I have one more mask I want to make before I give out the template.

I always seem to end up doing some kind of self critieque in these blog posts. Recently I seem to have taken a bit of a diary-esque approach to some of my blog posts but hey, that’s how you improve so I’m just going to say it. I really don’t like the pictures I took for this look.

Normally I take the pictures and edit them over 2-3 days, gives me time to look at the pictures, think of the theme I want to go for, the style I want to experiment with exc. but since I only had today I ended up going for, quite frankly, borring pictures. Not chuffed with the pictures :/

About a week ago I was sent the new Sleek Nude collection which I was very excited about. The main thing I was excited for was the blusher as it looked like it was the perfect shade for contouring on my skin tone.

I was quite surprised that sleek was releasing ANOTHER natural pallet so close to the release of the “Oh So Special!” pallet, but I suppose people tend to prefer “natural” makeup in the colder months so it’s not surprising.

“Sleek Makeup’s new collection is a celebration of ethereal beauty, and a new nude ranging from earthly browns, to tan and pearly oyster”

I haven’t been a massive fan of the Pout Polishes in the past and I’m still not a fan. Although they work just fine as a moisturizing balm there’s just something about the “waxy” taste than puts me off.

With this shade the pigment dose not really show up on your lips so it really is just a balm.

The pallet however I like!

Some people have commented saying it is less pigmented than past pallets, I only really noticed when people pointed it out to be honest, the difference is not that great and they are still good eye shadows.

I’m still waiting for the day when Sleek start to sell their eye shadows in blush sized packaging. I L-O-V-E black eyeshadow from sleek, the only eyeshadow I have ever found which could beat it was the Sugarpill bulletproof.

On the topic of products I would like to see Sleek release I would love to see a pallet of eye shadows with JUST primary and secondary coloured eye shadows.

It would be the superman of pallets! Ahhh….now I’m going to dream about that pallet tonight.

However I think my favorite piece from this collection is the blush.

For my pale skin tone it really is the best I’ve tried so far, you can use it for contouring AND blush, love, love, love!

Conclusion:

Bare Minimum Balm (£4.30): Good as a balm but the taste will put people off.

Pallet (£6.43): A very good pallet for people starting out with makeup or prefer “natural” colours.

I spotted this one in Super drug around 2-3 months ago instantly thought about the raved Beauty Blender and the Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge, I figured these were the UK dupes so I bought one.

Now personally I have never tried either of the US versions so regrettably I cannot compare this one to them, but I normally use disposable sponges for applying my BB Cream and personally I am not a fan of disposable stuff.

I like products which are hard wearing and last, so I decided to give this product a go.

Basics:

£4.95

Latex Free

I ended up buying two of these around 4 months apart. I had read on some blogs that the Beauty Blender (or the Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge, I can’t remember which) had dissolved in the inside, so I wanted to test this out thoroughly to make sure that it wasn’t the case with these sponges.

I’m happy to say that did not happen with these. They apply foundation beautifully!

The method I prefer the most is to dampen the sponge and then stipple foundation onto the skin with it.

They expand quite a lot when soaked so just dampen it, don’t soak it. It’s not too hard to wash the foundation off them, my favorite method is to use an old makeup remover I don’t like and use that to squeeze the foundation off.

Conclusion:

If you’re a fan of applying foundation (or BB Creams) with a sponge these are fantastic and save you a lot of money in the long run.

Disclaimer:

The MUA Nail Quakes were sent to me for review purposes.

It seems like every nail varnish company is jumping onto the crackle nail varnish bandwagon so it was only a matter of time till MUA decided to join in on the fun.

So far they have six shades; Broken Arrow, Jailbreak, Shockwave, Shiver, Quiver and Shattered Ice.

My first impression was that the name choices were slightly odd, as neither of them made me think of the colour they represented.

Basics:

Six shades

£2.99 each

10 ml

Not thick or gloopy.

Cruelty-Free

They go on very easily, the packaging is simple and sturdy. I like that they dry quite quickly and don’t crack into lumpy bumps.

One thing to note with all crackle nail varnishes is that you need to be generous and quick with your application.

Don’t try and slowly drag it over your nails, load the brush with a good amount of product and quickly apply it with two quick strokes.

Conclusion:

A good crackle nail varnish. Personally I prefer it to the Barry M version as it tends to really gloopy and dries out very fast, not to mention it’s almost double the price so a winning product for MUA!

Quick Tip: If you apply them without a nail varnish under it they wont crack and you can use them a ordinary nail varnish :)

As I’m sure a lot of you know a new line of cosmetics were released in Superdrug a few months ago.

I bought some of the MUA (Make Up Academy) cosmetics pretty much a few days after they first came out as there was quite a lot of hype about them and I can happily say they live up to the hype.

Basics:

Any product from MUA only costs £1

VERY pigmented

Good range of colours

These eye shadows are very, very pigmented.

Are they they as pigmented as the Surgarpill eye shadows? No they are not, but they are a lot more pigmented than other brands I’ve tried. To give you an idea of how pigmented they are I’d say they almost tie with the Sleek eye shadows which are very close to Sugarpill quality.

They have a satin feel to them, they’re not powdery at all.

One problem with them is that they’re very loosely pressed, if you drop these they will pop but because of the shape it’s easy enough to mend.

And sorry to bring up the comparison to Sugarpill again but in terms of size they are pretty much the same size as Sugarpil.

All the swatches above were done with one swipe (except for the black which was two swipes).

The colours I chose were the more matte but they do have pearlescent colours, I personally prefer more matte colours but some off you might prefer the pearl ones. They are slightly more sheer than the matte colours but still very pigmented.